Today marks the dawn of an exciting new era: for the first time ever punters around the world will be able to bet on a single race in a single, global pool. The process, commonly referred to as “co-mingling”, already happens on a smaller scale in several countries, but it has never been done with the multitude of countries involved this week.

The global pool bet is the Global Trifecta (three first horses in exact order) and will occur for the first time next Sunday at a race on Chantilly racecourse in France. It is the first of a limited series, with further races to follow at Royal Ascot next week, and prime races in South Africa and Australia (note) later this year. In 2008, there will be a complete programme, expanded to include more races from more countries. This initiative also has the potential to evolve into offering many other types of global bets.

The international commingling initiative is developed under the auspices of the IFHA (note) with involvement of Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, Singapore, South Africa, USA, Canada, France, UK and Ireland,. The group tackled issues on regulatory restrictions, interconnectivity between tote systems, variations in taxation, different take outs, variations in local bet types and many others.

“This is a truly exciting day. Global competition of the world’s best horses in the sport’s premier races has been a reality for some time now. It was clear to us that the next step had to be the creation of a medium for racing fans everywhere to become fully involved. The Global Bet does this, because it makes it possible for racing fans across the globe to bet on some of the world’s most prestigious races.” says Maurits Bruggink, IFHA’s Executive Director. “This initiative will set the stage for great opportunities for the global pari-mutuel industry by taking advantage of advancements in the technology.”

On the prestigious “Prix de Diane Hermès”, held on Sunday June 10 at the Chantilly race course, the French pari-mutuel company PMU will take bets not only from France, but also from various other European countries, as well as the United States, Brazil and South Africa (note).